Tuesday, February 23, 2010

For the past 5 days I have been working in the post-op ward that we have right here at the orphanage we are staying at. There are 20 children plus 2 babies right now. They are all awesome. The children are the bravest I have ever met. There are children with femur fractures and external fixators, tibia/fibula fractures with casts, humerus fractures with casts, spica casts, skin grafts, amputations, etc. We also have a child with sickle cell because he had a crisis and two babies who were undernourished.

I usually wake up at 6 am and get ready for the day. Then between 7 and 730 am I make my way to the post-op ward. Our consistent team is me, Alyson (pediatrician), Amanda (nurse) and Sarah (EMT- who runs the place). We greet the children, handout morning medications and then around 830 am we start wound care. Alyson and I do most of the wound care and it takes us until about noon, or shortly after. A lot of it is pin care- cleaning them out and bandaging the legs again. There are also some other wounds we need to clean and re-bandage and two children with stumps that need wound care. In the afternoon we try to get the children outside, under the mango tree, for a change of scenery and release of energy! And in the afternoon they are inside again, hanging out. We try to entertain them and also hand out pain medication as needed. We write in charts as we do the wound care. We also feed the babies every 2 or 3 hours- I love doing that! We usually break for lunch somewhere in between and around 530 go and eat a quick dinner during our team meeting. At 6pm we head back to the ward until about 730 or 8 pm for the evening medication round. And the children sometimes watch a worship dvd and so we worship with them which is a really special time. By 830 or 9 pm I am pretty tired and head to my tent.

I love working with the children. (Pictured above is myself and Lovensky during pin care) I am glad to have found this spot. A place where I can use medical skills but also invest in the children! I will never forget them.

Two days ago we said bye to a patient who was going home (to where?) and it was so sad. Not knowing where she would end up. Knowing that so much has changed for her. She asked me to lay hands on her head and pray for her. What a sweetie. I could not hold back the tears.

We are experiencing so much here. Times of struggle, moments of joy. I am definitely humbled by the people here. And am glad I can play my part.